Just in time for spring planting, Johnson Field Preserve on Bailey Island is about to become even more beautiful. Now that the Harpswell Invasive Plant Partnership and its many loyal volunteers have eliminated a large swath of nonnative wisteria from the preserve, it’s time to bring in the natives.
Wisteria, at first glance, is a beautiful vine, much beloved since its arrival from Asia in the early 1800s. Once here, however, without its natural controls, it showed its true colors by crowding out our native plants, upsetting the balance of our ecosystem, and eliminating food and shelter depended on by native wildlife.
At Johnson Field, wisteria escaped from its cultivated source and spread to cover 10,000 square feet of the preserve, on which little else would grow. Its long vines hug the ground, causing a significant tripping hazard.
The Harpswell Invasive Plant Partnership’s restoration efforts have already begun, and they will continue during the early growing season. HIPP has ordered 140 plugs of a native grass called little bluestem, Schizachyrium scoparium, through Bowdoinham’s Campo di Fiori nursery.
Because the plugs are small, this may seem like a drop in the bucket in the large area that the wisteria had consumed. The plugs will take approximately three years to fill in, but for the vitality of the preserve, it will be worth the wait. Patience with healthy plant growth is always paramount.
Native grasses provide both food and habitat for local wildlife. Sparrows, finches and other small birds can build their nests in the dense clumps of little bluestem. Bumblebee queens favor the winter protection of these grass clumps, protection that is necessary to start new bee colonies. Butterfly species, such as the Delaware skipper, lay their larvae on this plant.
The overall health and resilience of the ecosystem will be improved by these new plantings. Additionally, with Johnson Field’s sloping land always at risk of erosion, the root systems of little bluestem will spread over time to help stabilize the soil.
So invasives are out and natives are in! Let’s celebrate the beginning of this restoration project and watch the native plants grow. And let’s enjoy these efforts made to protect the health and natural beauty of Johnson Field Preserve.
